United Nations – Nigeria’s candidate for Judge of the International Criminal Court (ICC) is in the UN headquarters in New York to continue his campaign for the Dec.  2011 election.

Chile Eboe-Osuji, 49 , has already received endorsements from the regional bloc ECOWAS and the AU.

Eboe-Osuji on Wednesday night at a UN Security Council reception organised by Nigeria to mark her end of October Council presidency in New York.

A very confident Eboe-Osuji, who has had a distinguished career in international law, interacted freely with creme de-la creme of the diplomatic corps.

He was seen handing out his campaign complimentary cards, which lists some of his impressive credentials published on his campaign website launched this October.

Eboe-Osuji whose first nomination for ICC judicial election was in 2008, for the January 2009  elections, is currently the Legal adviser to the UN High Commission for Human Rights in Geneva.

He strongly believes that his performance at the last elections in 2009, where he received the second highest amount of votes of all the African candidates who did not get elected, makes him a star candidate for the December election.

“It is hoped that the early start to my campaign and the benefit of the ECOWAS endorsement and the repeated endorsements from the AU will make a difference this time.

“That hope is especially founded on the more than a quarter of a century’s experience that I have acquired as a courtroom criminal lawyer, the greater bulk of which has been in the area of international criminal law as it actually works in the courtroom,” he wrote on his website.

The ICC judge candidate strongly argued that Nigeria, which has been a strong supporter of the ICC since its creation, deserves to service on the Bench on the international court.

“Beyond the ICC, Nigeria has been playing a robust and consistent role in the pursuit of peace and respect for human rights in West Africa, Africa and around the world.

“Yet, no Nigerian has ever been elected to serve on the Bench of the ICC.

So, in deciding whether to grant me your support, you will need not worry that Nigeria is seeking to serve a second turn when other qualified candidates from other ICC Member States have not had one turn,” he added.

There are 19 candidates vying for the six seats as judges in the ICC, Africa has candidates from eight countries.

The elections are scheduled on Dec. 12 to Dec. 21 at the UN headquarters, New York. (NAN)